Chapter 16 - Cagliostro


"NERV-headquarters are under our control now", SEELE-07 explained.

"And so it begins." SEELE-04 whispered.

"Soon... soon we will be gods." said SEELE-06.

Lorenz Kiehl smiled, of course nobody saw it since they were meeting in virtual reality,
represented by black monoliths.

Suddenly the symbol of SEE-03 vanished.

"Where did he go? Why was the link disconnected?" SEELE-02 asked.

The very next moment a shot was heard. SEELE-08 vanished.

"What...?"

"Intruders!" SEELE-07 screamed. "Assassins are entering my rooms!"

"They are Raven! ODIN´s Raven! Kiehl, you turned against us!" SEELE-05 screamed, started
to say more but only gurgled before his monoliths vanished, too.

Kiehl removed the VR-visor, found himself back in reality, turned his head towards the door
that was just kicked in.

Two armed men stormed his bureau.

Kiehl reached for his desk´s drawer.
"Leave my bureau, now!"

"Director Kiehl, by the power given to me by the United Nation I am arresting you for treason.
You´ve become a traitor at the ODIN-agenda and humanity itself." Wolf Larsen bellowed.

"You can´t arrest me, I´m your most superior!"

"So? Raise your hands above your head, but slowly, or I´ll shoot you down."

"You won´t dare... You can´t! I am immortal!" Kiehl screamed, raising the gun he had got
out of the drawer.

The bullets hitting him and spraying his brain all over the wall proved him wrong.

Larsen leaned against the doorframe and let himself moving to the ground.
"It´s over..."

His companion noticed that one leg of Larsen´s trousers was full of blood, unknoted his
tie.
"Here, take that to interupt the bleeding."

"Thanks. Would you tell the collegues what we have done - and why?"

"Yes, I will." He shouted several coded commandwords into the room´s emptyness.

"What are you doing?"

"With Kiehl gone and nobody to override my commands I will try to get the status of the
Raven-units."

"Good."
The cyborg closed his eyes, his battle was over.


***


"Doctor Yui Ikari, I assume."

Who? Who´s there?

"I am Winter bani Hermes."
He used the formulation used by members of different Traditions to introduce themselves.

Magus diArgio...

"Did we meet before?"

No, but I know of your reputation. Archmage Winter diArgio, the Great Teacher of the Order...
the Dark Savant... the Traditions General...

"That was long ago."

Thou carry an umbrood within your very being...

"For eight centuries now... the reason for me still living after all the time."

Such an irony.

"How did thou happen to be inside the EVANGELION?"

I made the EVAs... with the help of some collegues... during the first test unit one did
absorb me. My soul has been imprisoned within the core for eleven years now.

"Hm... I´ll do my best to get thou out, my wort of honor being a Magus of the Traditions
upon it."

For eleven years I have hoped for a collegue discovering my state of being. The absorption
paralyses my own powers. How did thou find me?

"The Council of Nine sent me."

Yes.

"So, what must be done?"

My body has to be reconstructed for my soul to be transfered.

"That should be possible, I´ll call some of those collegues still within the mortal realm,
together we should be able to solve this problem."

It´s good to be able to talk to another scientist. Wait... The MAGI are transmitting data
to the tactical computers... armed troops have invaded headquarters!

"Oh, great... that might be a little delay for our schedule. It´s your terrain, what do
thou suggest?"

I should be able reboot the defense grid with the MAGIs´ help, but I would have to be
within central dogma.

"Okay, I´ll get the boy."

No, the EVA´s too large to reach the MAGI.

"Other suggestions? Could the core be removed without inflicting damage to thou?"

It´s possible, but a risk... the core gives away strong radiations.

He smiled ironically.
"I´ll have to take this risk. Are you ready?"

Yes...

A forceful gesture made the chestarmor break, freed the pulsating core.

Shinji, who hadn´t given a look before, being busy holding Rei, looked up.
"What?"

Another gesture ripped the core free, made it hovering by the mage´s side.

We should take Doctor Soryu with us.

Who?"

Unit two... Doctor Kyoko Soryu of the Virtuell Adepts met a fate similiar to mine.

"Good."

Yet another gesture, a short nod, and a second core as hovering at the first one´s side.

"He, what are you doing?!" Asuka shouted, but was ignored.

The second core emanated unreadable thoughts.

Yui Ikari started talking to the second prisoner, while Winter drew further symbols into
the air with his hands.

Kyoko Soryu awakened with a long mental scream.

"Talk to her, Doctor Ikari, I´ll prepare for our ascension into the shaft."
He felt the heat emanating from the cores, knew this to be the beginning of the end.
"And so it ends..." he whispered, turned around in midair for a last time. "Tymael, protect the
children!" he ordered his familiar, then the strange trinity rose into the
air, ascended into the shaft, faster and faster.

The armored security doors that had closed after unit one shattered like glass when the steel
was deeply frozen and turned into ice...


***


The commander of the invading elite troops stood in front of Cagliostro.
"I´ve lost contact to the teams I had positioned at the central shaft."

"That´s... a shame. How did you react?"

"Another team is under way to survey the situation."

"Good."

"Just a moment... I am getting their report..." The man turned pale. "Broken statues of
ice..."

"Repeat that!"

"My men report finding severel statues of ice in the shape of men, broken on the floor."

"Your men shall enter the shaft and kill everybody they meet."

"Yes, I´ll tell them."

Ikari opened the eyes wide.
"There are only children within the terminal dogma..."

"Your precious pilots, Ikari... your son... why should I care?"

Gendo pushed Aoba who had supported him, aside, stumbed towards the puppetmaster, was
stopped by the warlock´s bodyguard who started to beat him up again.

"Stop!" Misato Katsuragi screamed, attacked one of the soldier, was throw backwards to
next moment, clutching her stomach with both hands where she had been shot...

"You all will die", Cagliostro whispered. "You just might decide about the way you die
by yourself." He frowned, staring at a point beyond the next wall. "I fell something...
a presence I haven´t felt for a long time... Colonel?"

"Yes?"
The commanding officer stiffed.

"Have your men search the headquarters... we have an unwanted guest, he must die."

"Yes."


***


Winter had left the two imprisoned soul behind within the MAGIs´ room, marched now into
the direction Yui was telling him.

Be careful. The leader of the invaders is the Nephandi Cagliostro.

He stopped, staring at the screen that was still showing Ikari´s message.
"Cagliostro..."

You know him?

"He was my student once, my only failure... I´ve already known that he had summoned the
angels..."
He had to laugh.
"Strangly, how it all comes together, brick for brick... tell me, please, why did thou
construct the EVANGELIONs in the first time?"

To cross the Tempest.

"That´s fitting... the student I failed to show the path, the mission I failed to succeed..."
A grim smile appear on his face.
"Can doctor Soryu hear me?"

Yes.

"I´m sorry, I don´t know if I will be able to keep my promise..."

What are thou going to do?

"Show me the way to Cagliostro."

Alright, follow the signs. What´s the plan?

"To bring it to an end..." he whispered, throw three crystals of ice into the air, summoned the
Armaments of Ice, wove further arcane patterns while starting to move again.

We have managed to reactivate the defense grid. I will be able to support thou.

"Good..."
Suddenly he felt pain, like a dagger piercing his heart. He stopped, pressed the hand
against his chest, feeling neverending sorrow.
"No..."
A single tear left his left eyes.

What happened?

"My familiar just died..."


***


Five soldiers wearing dark combatsuits reached the bottom of the shaft, weapons readied.

"Ah, finally somebody comes. Rei needs to see a doctor..." Asuka shouted, stopped talking
when the guns were pointed at her, stepped back.

Rei was still laying on the ground, head on Shinji´s lap.
"Danger..."

Shinji turned the head, breaking eyecontact to his beloved, to watch the newcomers.
His eyes widened.

The white raven croaked, beat with his wings, produced a strong gust of wind throwing the
soldiers from their feet.

They fired at the bird.

Shinji threw himself over Rei, covering her with his body, felt something hot piercing
his plugsuit and touching his skin, when a projectile passed him.

Asuka jumped behind the large doorframe.

The raven Tymael croaked a last time and went down in the cloud of bloodied feathers.

A single gun bellowed, four times altogether. Four of the soldier sank limb to the ground,
the last one, the one who had shot, removed some of the paint from his face with his sleeve.
"Sorry that I didn´t intercepted earlier", Ryoji Kaji explained while getting down next
to Shinji and Rei. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, Kaji", Shinji panted. "What happened?"

"Ah, just a few lunatics who have intruded headquarter and took everybody else hostage."

"Is this true?"

"Yes, the four of us are the only one they didn´t caught - and I am doing my best to
reduce their numbers a little bit."

"You... shot them..."

"It was necessary. - And Rei, are you okay?"

"Yes..."
The pain was gone, and, strangly, she was sure that her child hadn´t been hurt either.

"Good. - Shinji, what about the EVAs? With just one EVANGELION we would chase them out of the
geofront."

"Ah... Sensei diArgio did... the cores..."

"Who? What kind of sensei?"

"Kaji, it´s... ah..."

Rei placed a hand upon Shinji´s.
"We are unable to do anything. Without the cores the EVAs won´t react, even if they had
the energy... I..."
She tried to get up, but was kept back by Shinji.

"Kaji, what can we do?"

"You will stay here..." He threw Asuka one of his gun. "You know how to use this, don´t
you?"

"Yes, Kaji, I do." Asuka nodded.

"Good. You will take shelter here, I will go up again."

"Kaji-san..."

"Yes, Rei?"

"Let me give you the codes to the express elevator..."


***


Hyuga crouched next to Misato who still had both hands pressed against her stomach section,
and stared at the lunatic who was calling himself Cagliostro - and who was holding all their
lifes within his hands.

Just two soldiers did stay, the others had left for the search, but they had positioned
themselves where they could fire their automatic weapons into the whole room.

Gendo Ikari stood with shaking legs in front of the desk, his pullover covered with red
marks, his glasses damaged, his nose broken, the lips bruised, seemingly at the end of his
strenght.

"Do you have anything to tell me?" the warlock asked smirking.

"Burn in hell..."

"Oh, how... original... I wasn´t told something like this for the last... hm, two centuries.
But I´ve been there already, too hot. The children should be dead by now. It´s
a pity Tabris did fail, alas, I will have to summon another umbrood, it´s a minimal delay...
But I don´t need you anymore, Ikari."
He gestured with just one finger, pointing at Gendo Ikari and the Commander of NERV flew
through the air, as if he had been hit by an invisible fist.
Cagliostro raised a hand, like a doll at invisible strings Ikari was lifted up and thrown
against the wall crushingly.

"Stop it!" Fuyutsuki shouted. "Why don´t you kill us?"

"Because I want to have some fun."

"That ends now." a female voice said in his back.

Fuyutsuki´s eyes, looking over Cagliostro´s shoulder, widened.
"Yui..."

Behind the warlock Yui Ikari stood, wearing a white labcoat, slightly immaterial with
dust dancing between her and the holoprojector under the ceiling.

"What?" Cagliostro hissed, without thinking he called lightning down upon the scientist,
the flash shot throught the projection inefficiently, hit the floor, left a burnt mark
behind.

Yui looked at him with anger.
"More than ten years..."

"How could thou free yourself?"

"I had help."

The same moment the ceiling explode right over Cagliostro and within a rain of icesplitters a
small figure landed on the desk´s table, cloathed in ice and shadows,
threw dagger made of ice at the guards, nailing them at the walls.
"Hello, Alessando..." Winter diArgio whispered.

"So we finally meet again..."

"It´s been a long time... too long for my tastes..."

"Yes... But today I will be the master!"

"Of course... Any other mental disorders you want to talk about?"
He marked his words with a small hailstorm forming above his former student´s head,
jumped from the table. He pointed at the door, turning towards the hostages. "Leave now."

The door was opened from the outside - by Ryoji Kaji who jumped into the room with a gun
in each of his hands, rolled aside and scanned the situation.

Between the mages undescribealbe forces were at work, lightning flashes, thunder roared,
fireballs exploded and acid clouds were drifting between them, while the NERV-crewmen
ran for their lifes. Hyuga and Aoba dragged Misato away, the last to leave was Gendo
Ikari, still staring at the image of his wife standing in the middle of chaos.

Finally Winter stumbled backwards, his shields breaking under a hailstorm of fireballs.

"Now, Master... still dealing with the old weaknesses? Yes, I was a good student, even
while not listening to you talking about duty and responsibility... why serving in heaven
if one can rule in hell?"
The Nephandi laughted while his opponent tried to get back onto his feet.
"You failed again. Again you failed because of me, for the third time... do you remember
LaRochelle? Oh, you do, I´m sure, surely you couldn´t forget the deathscreams of your
comrades-in-arms, those you have lead right into oblivion... How was it like having your
son die in your arms? Having your beautiful beloved, the Lady Rasha, sacrifice herself to
spirit you away to secure your survival?"

"You... devil..."

"Yes, a devil I am and I am proud of it. Do you want to know the reason your carefully
crafted battleplan did fail? The reason of the Technocracy waiting for you? They knew that
you were coming, that the Tradions would threw into battle everything they had up to the
last Initiate... because I told them. And now, die with this knowledge tearing at your heart,
knowing that it all was your fault, General!"
Cagliostro raised the hand to deliever the deathstroke.

Kaji fired, emptying the clips. The bullets hit the barrier surrounding the warlock
inefficiently, but created the diversion Winter needed to play his final trump...

Out of the mage´s nose and mouth came a white mist, forming a humanoid only slightly human form
with long arms and a stout head, a creature of cold with glowing yellow eyes that
without hesitation attacked Cagliostro, shedding his shields effordlessly, piercing the
warlock´s chest with a clawed hand. And then the creature just vanished...

Cagliostro stood unmoving in the center of the room, unable to even move an eyelid.

Shaking and panting Winter got up, he had to seek support at the desk while time itself
was catching up with him, while his hair thinned and wrinkles and puckers apeared while
his apparent age became that of a onehundred years old man.

Yui Ikari´s projection moved towards him, the outreached hand moved right though his chest.
"What did happen?"

"I freed... the umbrood within me... the reason for my longlifyty..."

"You need help at once."

"I still have something to finish."
In a mixture of newly gained power and last reserves he walked up to Cagliostro.
"Alessando diCagliostro bani Hermes... Filius ex Winter... in the year 1773 the High
Council of the Hermetic Order sentenced thou to death for treason and conspiration with
the Powers Down Below... sentenced thou to Gilgul to the utter destruction of body, spirit and
soul to leave nothing being to remind of your shame."
He coughed.
"Due to the missing presence of a Black Tribunal I will carry out the sentence by myself
as I swore it due to the Hermetic Oath..."
And he started to whisper words of power not made for the human tongue, powerful enough
to make the walls vibrate, powerful enough to make Kaji´s ears bleed, that old that just
speaking them was enough to slay all crickets and other insects with the geofront. These
words that were older than humanity itself were followed by a single command: "Die!"

And Cagliostro was silenced until the end of time...


to be concluded...